"Global trends have given us a clue that if control and prevention measures are carried out vigorously throughout the globe, malaria can be made a thing of the past" Illustration: Ratna Sagar Shrestha/ THT We assume life can be shut down to abyss any time in the unseen future. Natural calamities also agonize us as we just experienced the Gorkha earthquake last year. We stress over being bitten to death by snakes or stung by scorpions while hiking around the outskirts of the city on the very sunny day of an weekend. Numerous stories of mishaps on roads and air give chills to the bones while taking off for anywhere. We take the above mentioned gruesome statements as great threats to humanity. However, we always fail to count the greatest threat of humanity of all time in this list. Mosquito, the deadliest animal with minuscule shape and size comfortably flying around you, yes you guessed it right: it is the number one killer. Let’s not forget Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever,
Most viruses, unlike bacteria, are merciless as they are obligate parasites. The pathogenicity of viruses, however, falls within a wide spectrum: benign to severe. In the world of infections, a group of viruses has recently been dubbed to have serious public health threat, which otherwise was known to have only milder effects. Zika virus, a member of family Flaviridae, has recently shown up causing outbreaks in South America with the disease Zika. The infection by this virus has been said to have links with a rare neurologic disorder called microcephaly, congenital malformation, in which normal growth of head as well as brain development of the fetus is impeded. Zika virus is a cousin of Dengue Virus as both of them fall in same family. Besides these two, Japanese Encephalitis, West Nile and Yellow Fever viruses fall in the same category. There is distinct similarity in the way of transmission of all viruses of this category. Zika as well as Dengue viruses are transmitted by the bit